3.5.2007: The Chair of Forgetfulness (Things in Opposition)

“This happened, some think, because Theseus was not in Athens but instead in the Underworld where he had come with his accomplice Pirithous so that he could marry the goddess of his dreams: Persephone. In the Underworld they were cheerfully received by Hades, who bade them to take a sit. Having done as they were told, these two disoriented middle-aged gentlemen saw themselves grow fast to the Chair of Forgetfulness, being held there because the rock grew to their flesh, or by coils of serpents.” – Greek Mythology Link

The Chair of Forgetfulness sits center stage, an ornate and somehow mournful chair.

Someone is herein the Chair already. Pirithous. He stares blankly into space.

His dearest friend, Theseus, kneels beside him. He demonstrates as he speaks.

THESEUS
This is my hand.
My hand.

This is my hand in your hand.

This is a handshake.
My hand in your hand.

We shake hands because we are friends.

Do you remember that?
Friends.

I have a name.
Theseus.
Your friend.

Nothing from Pirithous.

The Guy appears at one end of the stage. The One Before appears at the other.

They watch as Theseus begins the speech again. Going through the same motions, exactly as before.

THE ONE BEFORE
Who are they?

THE GUY
Theseus and Pirithous. They were friends. They were goofing around, trying to steal someone’s girlfriend, and they ended up here. At the Chair of Forgetfulness.

Once you sit in it, everything you’ve known is forgotten.

At least Pirithous ended up here. Theseus got saved by Heracles. He was lucky.

THE ONE BEFORE
I don’t know anything about what you’re talking about.

THE GUY
I know.

THE ONE BEFORE
So, why am I here?

A sudden move from Theseus: he rises, and to The Guy and The One Before…

THESEUS
This is hopeless.

I have been going over this with him
for what seems like…

years.

But it’s probably just days.
Weeks, at best.

But he doesn’t even begin to understand
something as simple as
“This is my hand.”

Not understand a hand?

How can you begin to fathom the loss implied by that?

He was once my friend.
He was once one half of my life,
and now --

now he’s this…

a vacant-eyed nothing man
who knows only that five branches grow
from the ends of his arms

but nothing more about them
than that.

He was my friend.

He is not anymore.

How do you deal with that?

Theseus look back and forth between them, and no answer comes.

THE ONE BEFORE
Do you want to forget me?

THE GUY
No.

THE ONE BEFORE
I don’t want to be something you don’t even see or acknowledge.

THE GUY
I don’t want that either.

THESEUS
You don’t get to decide
whether or not you end up here.

Your lives aren’t myth.

You end up here when a good thing ends.

When the place that’s been built
between two people
erodes into the sea.

And you will forget each other.
It is the way of the world.
We move past what we leave behind.

THE GUY
Then why are you here?
What are you doing here,
trying to make him remember?

THESEUS
He was my friend.
There is always a part of me inside him
buried beneath the snow of what’s forgotten.

If I can just get him to understand
that this is my hand…

And in an instant, The Guy and The One Before understand that two things are inevitable: We will one day forget the thing we loved, and we will never give up the hope that we can retrieve what’s been lost.

They contradict each other, yes. But life seems to always be about things in opposition.

They will miss each other, of course. And they will always want each other.

But one day – maybe tomorrow, maybe a year from this day, maybe a hundred years from this day – they will have a hard time remembering the details of each other’s face.

Theseus returns to Pirithous, who is still somewhere else entirely.

He begins his opening speech again. This is my hand. This is a handshake. This is a friend.

The lights go down on them all.